Slog
News & ArtsWednesday, March 25, 2009
Science The Event
Posted by Charles Mudede on Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 10:41 AM
The boy remembers everything.
He has an IQ of 176. His mind is a processing machine. The appearance of his genius is an event. But it is not as an individual that we should admire him but as a social event. A mind of this kind is a node in a network of nodes. It is a node that radiates and receives in a network that as a whole constitutes the general intellect. What separates the intellect from the physical is its generality—meaning, it is not locked in the body like other biological characteristics: speed, strength, jumping. Nous shimmers on the surface of the globe.
1
It doesn't surprise me that a Marxist would instinctively minimize any exceptional personal accomplishment or quality.
And are you sure that you want to conflate intellect with idea? The mind is most certainly locked in the body. Expressing our inner thoughts as ideas is an imperfect exercise. Just because your strength is "locked in the body" doesn't mean that the ball you are tossing doesn't leave your hand.
But whatever.
And are you sure that you want to conflate intellect with idea? The mind is most certainly locked in the body. Expressing our inner thoughts as ideas is an imperfect exercise. Just because your strength is "locked in the body" doesn't mean that the ball you are tossing doesn't leave your hand.
But whatever.
3
Ugh. Genius boys doing stunts. What that has to do with intelligence I'll never know. What is this boy likely to accomplish as an adult? Nothing. Because he's been turned into a party trick.
I'm much more interested in people who can make serious contributions to the world around them, not ones who can do tricks, like a dog walking on his hind legs. "Let's treat him like a normal child" by putting him on TV after training him to memorize all this idiotic trivia. President's birthdays? Gimme a fuckin' break.
In Charles's terms, his network of nodes includes Fox 19 News, which means he's doomed.
I'm much more interested in people who can make serious contributions to the world around them, not ones who can do tricks, like a dog walking on his hind legs. "Let's treat him like a normal child" by putting him on TV after training him to memorize all this idiotic trivia. President's birthdays? Gimme a fuckin' break.
In Charles's terms, his network of nodes includes Fox 19 News, which means he's doomed.
4
The book "outliers" theorizes that once humans reach a certain IQ level, (135+) there is not much difference in their performance, in school or in life.
6
I remember him (I scarcely have the right to use this ghostly verb; only one man on earth deserved the right, and he is dead), I remember him with a dark passionflower in his hand, looking at it as no one has ever looked at such a flower, though they might look from the twilight of day until the twilight of night, for a whole life long...
...We, in a glance, perceive three wine glasses on the table; Funes saw all the shoots, clusters, and grapes of the vine. He remembered the shapes of the clouds in the south at dawn on the 30th of April of 1882, and he could compare them in his recollection with the marbled grain in the design of a leather-bound book which he had seen only once, and with the lines in the spray which an oar raised in the Rio Negro on the eve of the battle of the Quebracho. These recollections were not simple; each visual image was linked to muscular sensations, thermal sensations, etc. He could reconstruct all his dreams, all his fancies. Two or three times he had reconstructed an entire day. He told me: I have more memories in myself alone than all men have had since the world was a world. And again: My dreams are like your vigils. And again, toward dawn: My memory, sir, is like a garbage disposal.
...We, in a glance, perceive three wine glasses on the table; Funes saw all the shoots, clusters, and grapes of the vine. He remembered the shapes of the clouds in the south at dawn on the 30th of April of 1882, and he could compare them in his recollection with the marbled grain in the design of a leather-bound book which he had seen only once, and with the lines in the spray which an oar raised in the Rio Negro on the eve of the battle of the Quebracho. These recollections were not simple; each visual image was linked to muscular sensations, thermal sensations, etc. He could reconstruct all his dreams, all his fancies. Two or three times he had reconstructed an entire day. He told me: I have more memories in myself alone than all men have had since the world was a world. And again: My dreams are like your vigils. And again, toward dawn: My memory, sir, is like a garbage disposal.
7
Fnarf hits it on the head. All I could think was, "If that were my child, what would I train him to do?"
They need to get him enrolled in language and music classes pronto. Nobody ever became a Cool And Useful Person by memorizing Eisenhower's birthday. On the other hand, if he can play four different styles of guitar and effectively hit on any flavor of European he likes, he's got it made.
They need to get him enrolled in language and music classes pronto. Nobody ever became a Cool And Useful Person by memorizing Eisenhower's birthday. On the other hand, if he can play four different styles of guitar and effectively hit on any flavor of European he likes, he's got it made.
10
@3,
No kidding. Just like this kid.
To sum up, in 1988, he was the youngest person to graduate from college and had a degree in computational mathematics. Shortly thereafter, his mother got custody from the kid's over ambitious father. Now the guy is an adult and, as of 2003, was working for Home Depot.
The kid in this video does have potential. His parents will likely squander it.
No kidding. Just like this kid.
To sum up, in 1988, he was the youngest person to graduate from college and had a degree in computational mathematics. Shortly thereafter, his mother got custody from the kid's over ambitious father. Now the guy is an adult and, as of 2003, was working for Home Depot.
The kid in this video does have potential. His parents will likely squander it.
11
ugh. poor kid. his parent's need to back the fuck off and let him be a kid. a brilliant kid, but a kid all the same.
12
What #9 said. a node in a network of nodes . . nous shimmers on the surface . . . You are giving Camille Paglia a run for her money.
13
Nothing he did demonstrated a high IQ - I believe he has one, but they demonstrated memory tricks, not IQ. Memorization plays a very small role in assessing intelligence.
He appears to not be an idiot, but this segment highlited a similar skill set to Rainman.
He appears to not be an idiot, but this segment highlited a similar skill set to Rainman.
14
"Nous shimmers on the surface of the globe" is the best sentence that's ever appeared on Slog. Y'all are philistines.
@8 ain't me, by the way.
@8 ain't me, by the way.
15
Memorization is rapidly going to become an outmoded skill anyway. Wikipedia is already an auxiliary brain for most of us.
Comprehension and logic are vastly more important, really.
Comprehension and logic are vastly more important, really.
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